I have often joked that bottom bouncers are a guide’s best friend because you can catch a lot of walleye with a bottom bouncer regardless of experience or feel. Bottom bouncers are so simple to use and so effective. You can also simply put the rod in the rod holder and the rod simply loads up with a fish. Through this entire spectrum, bottom bouncers are forgiving in that you can slide out into deeper water or move up shallow and keep your presentation near the bottom if need be. You can run spinner harnesses with blades.Īll these options enable the angler to fish slow or fast, with subtle or vibration with flash. You can run half-crawler Slow Death style hooks that have become so popular over the last decade. You can also slow down at a mile per hour or less. You can speed up to cover the water at over two miles per hour with a bottom bouncer. The reason bottom bouncers are so effective is the simple versatility.
Come mid-summer, bottom bouncers are probably my go-to presentation to catch walleyes day in and day out on many different fisheries. The popularity of bottom bouncers however has expanded far and wide. Whatever, with a little ingenuity and the bottom-bouncer, you can reach the fish no matter how deep they are, and entice them to bite.In both North and South Dakota, bottom bouncer rigs have been catching walleye on the Missouri River reservoirs for an awfully long time. You can also make a slip-bob rig that allows you pay out line when fish are leery of unexplained weights, or a bottom-bouncer with spinners to attract the fish much like fishing for salmon. With side-scanning sonar you can even keep watch over it to know when a fish has taken the bait. In clear water with few snags, your leader may be as long as four to five feet but in areas where sunken snags like wood or weeds abound, shorten it to about 1.5 feet for better control.Īltogether, the bottom bouncer is a very effective way to keep your bait near the bottom where the fish are, mostly during the cold season. You can troll several rigs this way, in addition to no-bouncer rigs that run middepth for suspended walleyes. The trick is to feel the bottom instantly so you can raise the rig out of harm’s way fast. mono will handle most bites and fights, but if the bottom has numerous snags, you may want to use lines up to 20 lbs. The recommended ensemble is a 6 ½ -foot baitcasting rod paired with a reel equipped with a flipping switch that will allow you to pay out more line instantly by simply clicking the switch. The idea is to keep it near bottom always without, however, snagging on bottom structure. Keep watch on your electronics to see if you are going through sloughs or elevations, and lift or lower the rig accordingly. ( Remove the spinner if you wish, but it is there to attract the fish.) Pay out line until the rig hits bottom, then raise it about six inches. Dangle the rig over the side and slowly increase speed until the spinner blade starts turning. Start the trolling motor to get the boat running. To find that ideal combination, use your desired weight and bait arrangement along with a spinner. With the correct weight, the wire will barely touch bottom, clicking when it does, attracting the attention of the fish. Too light and there will be too much trailing line, allowing the rig to ‘float’ up at the slightest increase in speed too heavy and the rig will scour the bottom, scaring the fish away.
The answer is, use just enough weight to allow the rig to trail at a 45-degree angle behind the boat. The main consideration in using bottom-bouncers is weight: how much, when, where. By this method the bait is kept just a little off the bottom, right in the noggins of the deep-lying fish.
The main line is tied to the bend to pull both ends. The lead is attached to one leg and on the other is a swivel and clip where the leader and hook is tied. The bottom-bouncing rig consists of a lead weight fixed to a piece of wire, used to feel the bottom of a river or lake but avoid snags. When walleyes run deep in lakes, reservoirs and rivers, there are several ways to reach them, such as jigging, deep trolling and, the best advisable method, bottom-bouncing.
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